The Project Pad

I like the placement of the remote display. I have always wanted to install one in the cluster, in the place of the clock.

Did you ever get the speedo to work with your old setup derek?

What's up with the Mars urq in the background?

84urq20v wrote:What's up with the Mars urq in the background?

and the deuce.5!

Derek, are you coming to vegas with Gobi goodness, and your buddies 83?

Looks great Derek! Now you've got me thinking about re dying my dash dang it!

busy busy busy lately. working on getting the transmission in. ever since i put the 20vt in, the 4th gear syncro of the 200 20vt trans (torsen) has been grinding. i've jsut lived with it until recently when i ran across a B5 S4 6spd, in which case i thought.... hmm, fix old tranny, or put in nice new one


I made a decision on the shifter to use the stock B5 S4 shifter, and modify my tunnel. A new box is required to bolt it up, and the shifter rods need to be shortened about 2", but it puts it right where the stock 4kq shifter sits.



I didn't want to pull everything out and weld inside the car, so,the box is bolted in, very sturdy though.







i need to shift the trans over a little more to the pass. side...



also, just FYI, you need to do a little big hammer persuasion in the tunnel for the shifter rods, which isn't a big deal because it's not seen by anyone, and doesn't affect anything otherwise.

the bracket is just flat underneath, and now i can run the exhaust over the axle unstead of under it...



pass. side mount lowered a little bit with spacers to help with exhaust tube clearance. soon there will be a 3" tube running through there, wrapped in header wrap of course.




still have a ways to go with some of the suspension and brakes, but hopefully it'll be back on the road here real soon. before the weather turns bad :(

Looks good Derek. I assume the console goes back on like stock? Reverse lockout works as well?

Man Derek! Lookin good! I can't wait to see you get it back on the road!

oh, and did you compensate for the 15mm tranny length or just scoot everything back 15mm? You may have just convinced me to weld a b5 box into mine as well. I think I would like the jhm shifter eventually.


i used the 2.7TT engine/tranny spacer that's about 12mm thick, and i bolted up an alu. B5 S4 FW with an organic stage 1 clutch masters disc/PP. we'll see how that holds up, but for now, it should be fine so i can get the chassis/brakes sorted out and engine broken in and tuned.

Looks awesome Derek

That is pretty ingenious. I too like the idea because it will help me use a short shifter that I already have from my blue S4.

ShavedQuattro wrote:Looks good Derek. I assume the console goes back on like stock? Reverse lockout works as well?

huh, i know i typed out a reply to both your questions, but it seems to be missing?

reverse lockout is built into the B5 S4 shifter mount, it's on the underside of the plastic knuckle deal. console goes in *almost* like stock. the box that holds the shifter assembly is a little long and protrudes just past the stock console, so i've had to do some creative trimming there. it might be harder in a URQ with the original console because they are considerably smaller/narrower IIRC. you might be able to make a new mounting box for the actual shifter assembly that is shorter and that would alleviate the problem. if i'm the first to actually do it this way, just means i probably did it the hardest way, not necessarily the best.

as for the 15mm of length difference, I used a 2.7tt engine/trans spacer, and a stock replacement alu. B5 S4 flywheel, with a stage 1 organic disc and PP from Clutchmasters. slightly used, but i need it to get me through the winter and get some miles on the car and some tuning. forgot to take a pic of the clutch/flywheel. you can see i used two alignment dowels, the one on the drivers side fits in the tranny hole, but that hole is ovlong and isn't really a 100% perfect fit, but i needed it to hold the spacer up in place while putting the tranny in, so it does the job. the dowels are just 5/8" OD x 1" long steel "spacers" from ACE hardware @ $1ea.


front axles are B4 fwd 5spd axles. spindles are 82mm from a B4/CQ. 5lug hubs are D2 A8 hubs turned down a little to sit inside the spindle properly, B5S4 front rotors, 6piston calipers (waiting on caliper adapters 4EVAR now!). rears are now B5 S4 hubs in stock rear 2 piece spindles, with B5 S4 rear brakes which i'm still working on the e-brake cable. Petar said he stretched his to make them work.... that's got me because it's a long stretch. i'd love a better explanation


suspension is the really short double adjust koni setup i built for the alpine car. it's just sitting around and i'd love to use it since it's been sitting for 2 years already.



i swapped in the brake MC and proportioning valve from my old alpine car and am installing a new clutch slave, master, and braided lines on all the hydraulics.

annnd, my rack was leaking, so i swapped in a servotronic unit that i got from a friend in europe. it was supposed to be short ratio, but that didn't pan out :(



issues i've run into in this phase - primarily, i wasn't aware of the +10mm rear hub offset gain, which causes tire/fender interference issues after so carefully selecting wheels and tires that fit. part of that will be because the new suspension is soooo much lower. the wheels hang at full droop now where the car normally rides. i've been trying to play around with control arm options to move the wheel forward a bit, but can't quite get what i need. i did make and weld in steel "bushings" for the subframe to offset it forward, but that's not doing the trick for the wheel clearances.

haha! i win!!!!


after some contemplation and more playing around with control arms, it was determined that what i was looking to do is shift the subframe back .5". and use the cast control arms in stock positioning... so, DS front, in the DS rear. what this does is allow it to work. so there. somehow, i also gained my tire clearance back... *scratches head*. i don't care how that happened really, i'm just glad it did.( i think it's because it moved the wheel forward into the deeper part of the wheel arch)


i didn't take pics of it, but use your imagination that there is a third hole in this plate...








i need a clean up on the control arm isle please.

WOOT! Man that looks great! I didn't realize about the shift back for the 01E. Good to know! I am really digging the cast arms as well. Yum!

Wow. It's been a while since I popped in here.

Looks great Derek. It's gonna be a blast to drive.

Let me know if you need any interior parts. I have a few things.

bit by bit...

rear diff mounts got welded up by Aarons friend Nubz this past week, so i bolted those up.


CV shield



glued some high density foam in the back window after pulling out 25 year old dusty jute padding. i did the same under the dash.



i was walking through a pick n pull, and ran across a Peugot 405, so i had to check it out since i had one, and it brought back memories, and i looked at the shifter, realized that it has 6 of the 7 gear positions i now have, in the proper location . 6th gear will remain hidden from here on out


more to come later....

derracuda wrote:bit by bit...

rear diff mounts got welded up by Aarons friend Nubz this past week, so i bolted those up.


CV shield



more to come later....

Whats the clearance of the trans and the tunnel? that looks like only mm's in the picture.

Derek very nice work as always.

why did you decide to do the rear trans mounts like that, theyre easy to make and even easier and decent money to buy. Whats the reason for customs i nthe front of rear diff?

glibobbo21 wrote:why did you decide to do the rear trans mounts like that, theyre easy to make and even easier and decent money to buy. Whats the reason for customs i nthe front of rear diff?

patience grasshoppah 8)

Heck yes! I love the hiddin 6th gear. >)

Clever solutions all around Derek! Well done

thought maybe...hoped at least lol

but still why the fancy rear diff mounts?

You ever built an exhaust over the oem rear diff mounts? The same strategy is probably being used for hte front mounting contraption as well. I imagine that he slotted the mounts as well to allow for movements forward and back as well..

Sure have its what made me say screw it and do 2.5 over the axle for now..the 80/90q bracket saves alot of headaches, it has more clearance..Not raggin on it just figuring out why. Since nothing was said about the tranny mounts being mockup and reason for fabbing diff mounts that take 2 hours a piece to weld. Some people have to pay full price for those kinda services(not that i do) not to mention time of fabbing. This is a forum no? for questions/answers for anyone reading said words, therefore these questions/answers are info for anyone reading this. Also some may not have fabbing skills at all, Im no stranger to it just saying. Alot of people follow what Derek does because he takes more pictures while working then anyone I think Ive ever seen, which is cool!